From the Earth to the sky and back

Data communication is a key issue in the planned European space mission. A description is given of the interconnection approach for end-to-end communication, concentrating on the models and protocols to be adopted for integrating networks with heterogeneous technologies and applications with diverse characteristics. A review is presented of the mission environment, and approaches for providing end-to-end communication between application processes residing in systems located in the sky and on the ground that are based on the OSI RM (open systems interconnection reference model) protocols and telemetry/telecommand protocols are described. A number of possible approaches dealing with end-to-end communication when the physical connectivity between the sky and the ground is missing as a result of system topology are outlined